SOME LOVE FOR DOVLATOV.

Last year I wrote about the mysteriously limited availability of the wonderful Sergei Dovlatov in English; I am happy to learn from this PEN America post that “when we were putting together PEN America 12, we decided we would re-publish one of Dovlatov’s stories. Happily, one of his translators, Antonina W. Bouis, is a generous member of PEN; I still have her copy of The Suitcase (though I’ll be returning it soon, promise!), from which we selected ‘A Poplin Shirt.'” And I’m pleased that my championing of Dovlatov seems to have played a small role in their decision.

Fantastic news! Until I looked around for English editions of Dovlatov online recently, I thought they’d be easy to get hold of. I’m teaching a literature course on U.S. immigration this fall, and I wanted to include “The Suitcase” in the section on Third Wave Russian emigres, but I’ll have to settle for photocopies of excerpts. (I’ll also give my students my own translation of Dovlatov’s story “Ariel.” I don’t think that’s been translated, has it?) To me, Dovlatov is clearly a major Russian writer, so I just figured that his English stuff would still be in print — especially since The New Yorker published much of it! No such luck.

And you can support my book habit without even spending money on me by following my Amazon links to do your shopping (if, of course, you like shopping on Amazon); I get a small percentage of every dollar spent while someone is following my referral links, and every month I get a gift certificate that allows me to buy a few books (or, if someone has bought a big-ticket item, even more). You will not only get your purchases, you will get my blessings and a karmic boost!

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"Evidence that the internet is not as idiotic as it often looks. This site is called Language Hat and it deals with many issues of a linguistic flavor. It's a beacon of attentiveness and crisp thinking, and an excellent substitute for the daily news."

From "commonbeauty"

(Cole's blog circa 2003)

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